


The Mechanic and the Dreamer Book II

by MediocreK



Series: The Mechanic and the Dreamer [2]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, First Meeting, Graywarren, Implied Kavinsky and Adam, Implied Smut, Longing, M/M, Soul Mates AU, dreamer - Freeform, magician, pynch - Freeform, soul mates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-07-29 16:44:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 8,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20085463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MediocreK/pseuds/MediocreK
Summary: How would their lives be different if Adam never got into Aglionby? When Ronan crashes the BMW and Kavinsky gives him his Mechanic's phone number Ronan's life starts to change.When strange bruises show up on Ronan's body that matches his Mechanics who can contact Ronan in his dreams, he starts to believe in the magic of Henrietta. BOOK 2





	1. Chapter 1

One

A soul is a precious thing. An indeterminable thing. A thing that Ronan Lynch wasn’t sure he had or wanted. As he listened to the sermon about soul’s that Sunday, Matthew in the pew between him and Declan, he was a million miles from all of it, with the word soul spelled out in front of him. Soul and Ronan were never in the same sentence unless it came pared with ‘don’t you have a’ or a ‘less’ attached to it.   
Adam said scrying is to let his soul wander outside his body, to put his soul into dreams or memories or a different place in time. Adam had a soul, Ronan had proof of it, but he never really doubted it with Adam.   
As he walked out of church, Matthew beside him, Declan in front of him on his phone, he looked to see Adam leaned against his shitty try-colored car and Ronan stopped. The day after Whelk was killed, Gansey, Henry, Blue, Adam and Ronan had spent the day together to try to figure out what all of this meant. What it meant that Adam gave his own sacrifice to Cabeswater, what it meant that Whelk had killed Noah to try to wake the Ley Line. They hadn’t talked about why Adam was with Whelk. No one brought it up, but it was a question that hung on them.   
“I’ll see you at school,” Ronan said to Matthew and kissed the top of his head.   
“Alright, buddy,” Matthew said and rounded to catch up with Declan.   
As he neared Adam, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants and stopped a few inches too close to the Mechanic.   
“Lynch,”   
“Parrish,”   
“What are you doing today?” Adam asked.   
Ronan shrugged and squinted into the sun to try to gage the time. He knew what he should do, he should go back to Monmouth and do his homework, he knew what he needed to do, he needed to dream, but he knew what he wanted to do, he wanted to look at Adam Parrish just a little longer.   
“Wanna come to the garage?” Adam asked. “I got some parts for the BMW, but I have a few ideas I want to talk through.”   
Ronan knew he didn’t mean ideas about the BMW, he knew he had his own things he needed to think through, but he lifted his chin and rounded Adam’s shitty car and pulled open the passenger side door. Today might turn out better than he thought.


	2. Chapter 2

Two

Ronan sat with his legs crossed in front of him on a bin and watched Adam move around the BMW. Ronan was content as he watched Adam’s elegant hands move in and out of the curved metal he loved. He let his eyes move from Adam’s fingers, up the back of his hand, to his delicate wrist and up his arm to his shoulder. When Ronan’s gaze fell on Adam’s face Adam turned to him, a questioning look spread across his eyebrows.  
“Are you even listening to me?” Adam asked  
“What?” Ronan asked. “No I wasn’t.”   
“Ronan,” Adam frowned.   
“Don’t use that tone with me,” Ronan said “What were you saying?”   
“I said that even though I woke the Ley Line it doesn’t seem to be right yet,” Adam said as he went back to the BMW. “Like we started to fix the problem, but we haven’t found the cause of it.”   
“So what are the blackouts?” Ronan asked. Since Adam sacrificed himself to Cabeswater power surges and black outs have plagued Henrietta, plagued Noah. Noah was at once more himself than Ronan ever saw him and also easier to disappear.   
“I’m not sure yet,” Adam said. “But Cabeswater doesn’t feel right, does it?”   
“No,” Ronan admitted and crossed his arms. He didn’t like that he agreed with Adam, but he knew that Cabeswater was still not to full power. It was still in the training wheel phrase of its life and no matter how Ronan wanted it to be the living forest that he could talk too, he knew that it wasn’t truly awake yet.   
“So what are we gonna do about it?”   
“We?” Ronan asked. “Now you sound like Gansey.”   
“Do you think if Gansey finds his King he’ll be able to stabilize Cabeswater?”  
“I think its the other way around,” Ronan said. “I don’t think he can find Glendower until Cabeswater is stable.” Ronan let his eyes travel down Adam’s jawline as Adam pursed his lips in thought.   
“Did you really fuck Kavinsky?” Ronan asked.   
Adam was so shocked he knocked his head on the BMW’s hood. He stood up and rubbed the back of his skull as he looked at Ronan. “Did I what?”   
“C’mon Parrish,” he rolled his eyes.   
“I don’t see how that has anything to do with Cabeswater,” Adam frowned.  
The way Adam referred to Kavinsky and him as ‘that’ gave all the answers Ronan needed. “See you around Parrish,” he said and slid off the bin to his feet.   
“You’re leaving?”  
“And they say public school is bad,” Ronan said.   
“Why do you care what I did or didn’t do with Kavinsky?”   
“I don’t,” Ronan said over his shoulder as he stalked out of the garage.


	3. Chapter 3

Three

Blue was on the steps of Monmouth Manufacturing when Ronan opened the heavy outside door. He thought for a moment that she was there to yell at him for whatever Adam told her he did, but when she looked up, there were tears in her eyes. They stayed there, she refused to let them fall. Ronan knew that fight.   
“Maggot,” Ronan said as he slid onto the step next to her.  
She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes and sighed deeply. “Do you know what it means to have a soulmate?” she asked, her voice smaller than Ronan ever heard it before.   
“No,”  
“Do you think you have one?” She asked as she wiggled her hands back and forth on her eyes.   
“No,”   
“This is stupid,” Blue sniffed angrily. “I just met him.”   
“It is stupid,” Ronan agreed, but how long did it take for Ronan to decide he’d do anything for Gansey? That Gansey was his brother, not just a friend. He sighed and leaned his elbows back on the stair behind him and said. “But you feeling it isn’t stupid. Asshole has that way.”   
“Its not just him that has that way,” Blue frowned. “You all do.”   
“And we’re all assholes,” Ronan said, but he felt it. Blue and Adam had the same feeling that Gansey did. Even Henry. Permanence. A safe place. Ronan didn’t understand safe places, but he knew it when he was alongside them.   
“Tell me not to worry?” Blue asked. “Tell me we’ll figure this out.”   
“You live with the psychics,”   
“But I need you to say it,”   
Ronan looked down at her, her big eyes still wet, her hair sagged just a bit, along with her mouth. He sighed deeply and pushed the back of her head with his hand. ‘We got him Sargent,” Ronan said. “He’s not going anywhere.”


	4. Chapter 4

Four

Chainsaw fluttered on Ronan’s shoulder as the five of them walked through Cabeswater. The sun around them was cool and it was a nice break from the summer heat that pressed down on them outside of the forest. They were on their way back to the Pig, today was the first day of summer vacation and they spent, well Ronan wasn’t sure how long they spent in Cabeswater since time didn’t work like it did on the outside, but according to his stomach they missed lunch but more than that Ronan felt like it was starting. He wasn't sure what they were ready for, but it felt like it was starting. Starting. Alway starting.   
Adam hadn’t looked at him since their almost fight at Boyd’s. That was fine with Ronan because he refused to look back. Somewhere he said the wrong thing and he was pretty sure it was about Kavinsky, but Ronan could never be sure with Adam Parrish. He wasn’t quite skittish, but more like a trapped animal. He could go to the left or to the right and any way you’d think he’d go would be wrong and he’d be at your throat.   
Adam was angry and Ronan couldn’t blame him. He was angry too. Adam’s anger was more internal, held closer to his person than Ronan’s was. Ronan didn’t care who he exploded on as long as the blast was absolute and destroyed the thing Ronan hated. Still Ronan understood why Adam held his anger so close. Or at least he thought he did. Ronan was chaotic while Adam was thoughtful. Ronan said he didn’t care, but some days he thought maybe he cared too much and that’s why he was so angry. Adam cared in fits and starts. One day he cared about everything and the next, he was so turned in on himself he didn’t care about anything and Ronan, who liked consistency, couldn’t figure it out. So he focused on the anger.   
Once they made it back to the Pig and were on their way back to Henrietta a white Mitsubishi pulled along side of them. Ronan didn’t look over from the passenger seat. He wasn’t in the mood for Kavinsky.   
“Lynch,” Kavinsky said “I see you stole my Mechanic.”   
“Joseph,” Gansey greeted. It wasn’t really a greeting, it was a ‘what do you want?’ or a ‘go away’, but it wasn’t simply Joseph.   
Blue looked like she was about to crawl out of the backseat and climb over Gansey to get to Kavinsky. Ronan leaned over and glared at him. “What do you want?”   
“You know what I want Lynch,” Kavinsky said. “You coming to the fourth?”  
“No,” Ronan said.   
“You should,” Kavinsky ginned. “I know you like a good explosion.”   
Ronan fixed his gaze back on the light, just turn green already.   
“Don’t worry Lynch,” Kavinsky grinned “I’m sure all three of us could play nice together.”  
Ronan snapped his head towards Kavinsky as the light turned and he sped away. Ronan followed his car with his eyes in a glare.   
“Maybe we should go to the fourth just so I can kill him,” Ronan growled.  
“No,” Gansey said and turned a bit while he drove. “No one is go near him. He’s bad news Ronan, you of all people should know.”


	5. Chapter 5

Five

Grief did not get easier the further away you were from it. As the days grew between Ronan and his father’s death, he still felt the punch of that loss just as hard as when he saw his father’s body on the ground in front of the BMW. He still remembered the last time his mother said his name and he held it so time wouldn’t take away the sound of her voice. Everyone said that grief took time, that it would hurt less the longer he was without them, they were wrong. The grief didn’t lessen, it changed every time Ronan thought he was used to it .   
He would always be Ronan before and Ronan after. Sometimes, when Gansey thought Ronan was asleep, or had his headphones on, he’d hear him talk to Henry. ‘You should have met him before, he was so different then,’ or ‘I keep seeing glimpses of the old Ronan,’  
At first, it made Ronan angry. It made him feel like a project. Gansey always tried to find something. Always tried to be in control. Gansey wasn’t Gansey without it and Ronan did not want to be the thing that Gansey found. He was right there, it was Gasney’s problem if he didn’t see that.   
Then, one day, while he sat at the Barn’s and watched his mother silently go on without his father, Ronan realized that it was possible to grieve for someone without them actually gone. This whole time while Ronan grieved his father, grieved his mother, grieved the loss of his home, Gansey grieved Ronan. He didn’t grieve for Ronan’s, he actually grieved like Ronan was gone. Maybe he was.   
He wasn’t angry at Gansey after that. He didn’t bristle when he saw a side glance between Gansey and Henry, he didn’t clench his fists when Gansey talked about the hot summer at the Barn’s before Neill Lynch’s death. He let Gansey talk through his grief. Gansey never said ‘remember when we…’ he always told the story as if Ronan wasn’t there, like he was some new Ronan that came to be after the accident. After his mother’s silence.   
Ronan knew this wasn’t a lie. He always held anger inside him, even before the end of his world, but now, that anger was pointed outward. He was a gun with the safety off and Gansey was did his best just to hold on.   
Gansey could also stop that anger with a word. Ronan hated that more than the person he became through the grief. He wasn’t to the other side of that grief yet, Ronan wasn’t sure if he’d ever be. One day he’d probably have to thank Gansey for standing with him through all the bullshit that came from being Ronan Lynch. It wouldn’t be today. It wouldn’t be tomorrow.   
Ronan hoped saving Gansey’s life would be better than a thank you, but he also hoped Gansey never know his life was saved. He didn’t want that knowledge to be something Gansey had to put on. So much of Gansey that the world saw was put on every morning. The confident shoulders, the bright smile, the easy words. It was alarming how quick Gansey could go from the real Gansey, the boy who constantly fought against himself, and Richard Campbell Gansey III, a Prince of Virginia.   
Ronan didn’t think him and the Prince would be friends, if the Gansey underneath didn’t exist. He remembered the exact moment he saw it, they weren’t friends, but they were almost on their way to becoming friends. Gansey showed up at the Barn’s, wired glasses on his face, coat over a T-shirt and pajama bottoms and hoped Ronan couldn’t sleep just like he couldn’t sleep. In that moment, Ronan knew he’d do anything Gansey ever asked.   
The Prince stayed away the next morning as well, as Ronan’s mother made breakfast and Gansey laughed with Matthew and Ronan for the first time in a long time could say he had a friend. Not a friend that he saw in school and talked with between classes, but a friend that could have breakfast with his family, a friend that would take him in after he lost that family, a friend that try to keep both of their lives going when Ronan wanted to stop.   
Ronan wasn’t jealous that Gansey found Henry, that he found Blue. At first he didn’t like it, he’d admit that, but it wasn’t jealousy. It was more that he was afraid he was replaceable in Gansey’s life. In 18 months it went from Gansey and Ronan, to Gansey and Ronan and Henry, then to Gansey and Ronan and Henry and Blue and Adam. Every time a new person gravitated towards Gansey, Ronan was afraid to lose the only thing that cared about Ronan most days.   
Then, slowly, Ronan saw it. He saw that Gansey had a different smile for all of them, but they were all his, not the Prince’s. He knew that Ronan Lynch, fit in this family, even with all his problems and all his edges, he fit. Ronan, like Gansey, had never really fit anywhere, but somehow, they fit with each other.   
They were brothers. Not the kind of brothers Ronan already had, not a brother who nagged or a dream brother, but a real brother. The kind of brother that knew with a look how Ronan’s day was. A brother that could hold Henry’s hand, put an arm around Blue and still have a smile left over for Ronan.   
Ronan knew two things for certain in his life. He would never get over the loss of his parents, and he would save Gansey.


	6. Chapter 6

Six

The cold war between Adam and Ronan only quieted when Ronan was asleep. He thought that after Whelk died, Adam wouldn’t be in his dreams anymore, but he was. Ronan and Adam would walk together, side by side, some nights they didn’t talk, some nights they talked about everything, some nights they’d let their knuckles brush together and pretend not to notice.   
Ronan, hurled himself into a dream, a fresh bruise on his cheek bone, one he knew he didn’t get and looked for Adam. He had a theory, an idea on the tip of his tongue that he couldn’t quite put into words. Since Adam wouldn’t talk to him while they were awake, he hoped Adam would talk to him in Ronan’s dream.   
He walked through the forest, he walked through the field, he walked through Summer and Fall and found Adam, shivered in Winter. Adam was more himself when he was uncomfortable. Ronan sat next to him on a half snow buried rock and breathed hot air into his hands.   
Adam hadn’t said he hoped Ronan would be there, but the way his eyes glassed over and his chin dimpled, Ronan heard it. Adam knew somehow, that Ronan knew the grief in unshed tears.   
“How do you think he’ll die?” Adam asked. “I’ve tried to see it, but I never can.”   
“Probably by doing something stupid,” Ronan said.   
Adam let out a small laugh and dropped his chin to his chest, he nodded after a moment. “Yeah. Probably,”   
“What did you run your face into?” Ronan asked.   
Adam shook his head again and looked out over the snow that filled the forest.   
“How does it feel to have your parents dead?”   
“My mother’s not dead, shitbrick,” Ronan said, but there wasn’t any heat in his voice.   
“Were you close with them?” Adam asked. “Before?”   
“Yeah,” Ronan said.   
“Why do parents that love their kids get taken away and parents who hate their kids never leave?”   
“Is that who fucked up your face?” Ronan asked after a long stretch of silence.   
“Sometimes it’s worse when they ignore me,” Adam said. “I never know if I’m real when I’m at home and they just… its like I’m Noah without Blue, without the Ley Line. I’m there but no one sees.”   
“I see you,” Ronan said, but he didn’t look at him. He wasn’t sure if he could.   
“Kavinsky and I-”  
“I don’t care,” Ronan cut him off. “I don’t care about Kavinsky.”   
“He cares about you,” Adam said.   
“Kavinsky cares about the next high and the next way he can fuck up peoples lives,”   
“He came to see me at Boyd’s,” Adam said.   
“You give into him?”  
“What?” Adam asked. “No. Why? What does that mean?”  
“Nothing,” Ronan said.   
“Do you give into him?” Adam asked.   
“I don’t want to talk about him here,” Ronan said. The last thing he needed was to have a dream Kavinsky show up, because in Ronan’s mood he really would kill him. “Why did you agree to help Whelk?” he asked after a moment.   
“He said he could get me out,” Adam said.   
“Of your parents house?”   
“Out of Henrietta,”


	7. Chapter 7

Seven

Ronan was angry. He was always angry, but this time it was like lightning in his fingers. He felt awake on this anger. Ronan felt more like himself when he was angry, like the rage filled him up. Today, Ronan was angry at Kavinsky. He stalked up to his house and beat on the door.   
“Hey Princess,” Kavinsky said as he opened it, eyes half closed, smile too lazy to be sober.  
Ronan grabbed him by the neck and pushed him inside. He pushed until Kavinsky hit the wall across the hallway   
“Whoa man,” Kavinsky said. “What’s gotten into you? Is it the Mechanic?”   
“What the fuck is your problem?” Ronan asked.   
“The only problem here, Lynch, is you,” Kavinsky said. “Ruining my high, you want some?”  
“I don’t do that shit,” Ronan said. “Listen to me you asshole- you talk to Parrish one more time and I swear to God-”  
“Swear to God?” Kavinsky smiled. “You his dog now too?”   
“Fuck you,” he snapped.   
“Lynch,” Kavinsky smiled. “Don’t you remember? I fuck you.” He drug a finger down Ronan’s jaw.  
Ronan smacked it away. “It’s not happening, don’t start.”   
“Look at you trying to be tough,” he said with a lazy smile. “I know you’ll give in eventually.”   
“Stay away from him,” Ronan said and walked back out the door.  
“Don’t take away my things Lynch,” Kavinsky said half leaned out the front door. “You won’t like the consequences.”   
“Try me,”  
Kavinsky mimed a gun with his pointer finger and his thumb and pointed it at Ronan, “BOOM!”   
Ronan flipped him off over his shoulder and walked down the street. It wasn’t the hasty retreat he could have done in the BMW, but he kept an easy pace, Kavinsky didn’t scare him.  
“Lynch!” Kavinsky called. “Don’t you walk away from me!”


	8. Chapter 8

Eight

Ronan was dreaming, he wasn’t aware of himself like he was in Cabeswater, but his thoughts were his own. He felt disconnected, not all the way there. He couldn’t look at himself, he tried to look down at his hands, but his body wouldn’t.   
Fuck. He was actually dreaming. He wasn’t a Graywarren here, he was trapped in his mind while he slept on his bed in Monmouth.   
He was at Boyd’s Body shop.   
Fuck.   
Adam was bent over the BMW in coveralls.   
Fuck.  
When he looked up and held Ronan’s gaze, he smiled. It wasn’t a Gansey smile, full of teeth and well wishes, it was a small private smile, Ronan barely had glimpses of. There was a smudge of oil on his cheek, Ronan wanted to wipe it off, wanted it to stay there, wanted to taste it.   
Adam stood and wiped his hands off with a rag then shoved it in his back pocket. He moved towards Ronan, wordlessly. Ronan shoved his hands in his back pockets to convey ease, but his heart beat so fast he could feel it in his ears.   
Adam circled him, he followed the Mechanic with his eyes only. Ronan felt Adam’s hands on the skin of his back, his fingers traced up the tattoo, it’s black jagged lines. Adam touched him like he was made of glass, Ronan let his eyes close.   
He wasn’t sure when the last time he was touched like this, in a dream or in life. Adam’s calloused fingers moved slow and paused whenever Ronan shivered. The mouth on his shoulder was too much and when he turned around, Kavinsky was behind him.   
Kavinsky grabbed him by his belt loops and pulled Ronan against him. The kiss was hot, Ronan’s skin felt electric, but his mind was on Adam.   
Adam  
Adam  
Adam  
Ronan pulled away when a new set of hands dragged up his sides  
“I brought you a gift,” Kavinsky grinned.   
Ronan looked over his shoulder and Adam was there again, Ronan turned towards him, but he didn’t touch him. He waited for Adam. After a moment Adam’s lips were on Ronan’s. Kavinsky’s teeth was on his shoulder. Adam’s mouth was the only thing that Ronan could focus on. How his lips moved, how every once in a while his teeth would scrape against Ronan’s bottom lip. How he tasted better than anything Ronan ever had. He wanted more. He needed more. Ronan dug his hand into Adam’s hair to keep him close, his other hand reached back and gripped at Kavinsky’s hip.   
Kavinsky reached between Ronan and Adam and undid Ronan’s jeans, slowly, he was never slow, but now everything he did was slow. Ronan looked over his shoulder at him, then back to Adam. Adam went to his knees.

Ronan sat up so quickly he nearly fell off his bed. He blinked at the dark room.   
“Kerah?” Chainsaw asked from her cage.   
Ronan looked at her in the dark room and tried to spot her darker form, one eye semi closed, the other eyebrow raised. He flopped back onto his mattress and forced himself fully awake.   
He was never sleeping again.


	9. Chapter 9

Nine

him, Ronan watched the way his tongue darted out and licked away a stray drip of pizza sauce. Ronan wanted to be that sauce. He watched Adam’s fingers, gently curled around the slice of pizza, his slim wrists, his long fingers, the slightly darker callouses on the tips of his fingers. Ronan could watch Adam eat all night.   
Blue squeezed herself in the booth next to Adam and stole a drink of his sweet iced tea. “What are we talking about?” she asked  
Ronan had no idea.   
“Glendower,” Henry said.   
“There has to be a reason why Cabeswater’s energy keeps dipping even after the-” Gansey faltered. He didn’t like the word sacrifice. “Even after we woke the Ley Line.”   
“What do you think Ronan?” Adam asked.   
“About what?”   
“About Cabeswater,” Blue said.  
“Sometimes it’s like you two share a mind,’ Ronan frowned at Adam and Blue.   
“Why isn’t it at full capacity if the ley line is awake?” Henry asked.  
“Fuck if I know,” Ronan shrugged.  
“There has to be something we’re missing,” Gansey said. “Have you learned anything with your lessons with Persephone?’   
“The thing about Persephone is that you learn on her schedule, not Cabeswater,” Adam said. “I have no idea if I’m learning anything useful.”   
“Ladies,” Kavinsky said as he walked up to the table with arms open. “All my favorite people in one place. It must be my birthday.”   
Ronan bristled. He was still angry at Kavinsky, but both him and Adam in the same room as Ronan also made him remember the dream from the night before. He kept his eyes on Blue, since she was easier to look at, at the moment.   
“What can we do for you Joseph?” Gansey asked.   
“Oh I don’t know,” he said, Ronan could hear the smile in his voice and he hated that he wanted to see it. “Just thought I’d come and see my Mechanic.”   
“Get lost,” Blue said.   
“Oh now baby doll,” Kavinsky said. “Don’t you service your customers in customer service?”   
“I’ll break your neck,” Ronan said softly, but with heat. His fists clenched on the table. “Get lost before you piss me off.”   
Kavinsky leaned his hands on the table, Ronan could smell him. “Alright Lynch, no need to get angry. I have a gift for you.”   
Ronan’s eyes flew to Kavinsky, it was too close to the dream, no, he couldn’t think of that now with both of them here. Kavinsky dropped brown leather bands on the table in front of Ronan and then ran a hand over Ronan’s shaved head. “Sit boy.” He said before he moved from the table.   
“What was that about?” Henry asked.   
“No idea Cheng,” Ronan frowned as he picked up the exact copy of the bracelet he already wore.


	10. Chapter 10

Ten

Crushes happen over night, that’s the shittiest thing about them.   
One day a person is just a person and the next, they are the reason why you wake up, they are on your mind while you eat breakfast, you wonder when you’ll see them, if they’ll call, if they like you back. Then the next moment, you hate them. When they ignore you, when a conversation doesn’t go as it should, when you’re jealous of everyone else’s eyes on them. Then, they smile and you want to die. It doesn’t make any sense, ever, even while it's happening.   
Ronan was in the hating phase. He had his arms crossed and glowered at Adam as he worked on the BMW. He wasn’t sure why he was so mad at Adam, but he wanted to take that stupid screw driver from his hands and throw it across the room.   
“Why you so mad today?” Adam asked, his accent thick. He sounded tired. Ronan hated that he knew when Adam sounded tired.   
“Shut up,” He also hated that Adam knew every time he was mad. Ronan always looked mad, it wasn’t as often as people thought that he was actually mad.   
“Did I do something?” Adam asked as he paused in his work.  
“No,” Ronan said. “I said shut up.”   
“I don’t get you,” Adam said.   
That made two of them.   
“How much longer are you going to be working on my car, man?” Ronan asked  
“I told you parts are hard to get here,” Adam said.  
“I’m not pissed off!” Ronan snapped. “Quit acting like a kicked puppy.”   
“Go to hell, Lynch,”   
“Suck my dick, Parrish,”   
“Why did Kavinsky give you those bands?” Adam asked.   
“I don’t know,”   
“I think you do,” he frowned.   
“And I think your mom fucks on the first date,” Ronan said. “Who cares?”   
“You’re such an asshole,”Adam frowned.   
“Point?”   
“Maybe I’ll just ask him then,”   
“No,”   
“No?” Adam echoed.  
“No,”   
“And why not?” Adam asked.   
Because he’s bad news, because I don’t want him to touch you, because if he does touch you I think I might actually kill him.   
“Because I said so, Parrish,”   
“Oh,” Adam said with heat. “I didn’t realize that you were making all the rules.”   
“When it comes to him, I am,”   
“Are you jealous?”   
Ronan snapped his head up quickly. Fuck. “Jealous of what?”   
“Kavinsky and me,” Adam said. “You’re jealous that he slept with me, aren't you? Listen Lynch, he’s all yours.”  
“Wait.” This wasn’t going how Ronan pictured it at all. He rested his fingers between his eyebrows and scrunched up his face. Adam thought Ronan liked Kavinsky. Kavinsky! Ronan waved his hand and shook his head. “Wait.” Adam admitted he slept with Kavinsky. Adam slept with Kavinsky and Adam confirmed he was into guys. Ronan felt like his mind was a skipping record. “I don’t want Kavinsky.” Ronan was finally able to put into words.   
“No?” Adam asked “But you fuck him.”  
“It doesn’t mean I want him!” Ronan said. “You fuck him too”  
“Did,” Adam said. “Not anymore.”   
“Wait,” Ronan closed his eyes and put his hand up again to pause the conversation. God he hated that they were talking about this, he hated that he wanted to keep talking about this.   
“What is your problem?” Adam asked.   
“Its a lot of fucking information in a short amount of time,” Ronan said. “Why aren’t you fucking him anymore?”  
“That’s what you’re deciding to take from this conversation?” Adam asked.   
“You thought I was jealous you fucked Kavinsky,” Ronan said. “Who’s the asshole here? Because its not me.”   
“Well something is going on with you,” Adam said. “You’ve been pissed at me all day.”   
“Have not,”  
“Have too!” Adam snapped.  
“Its a character flaw, not a mood,” Ronan said.   
“So you’re just an asshole in general?” Adam asked sarcastically.  
“Pretty much,”   
“No you’re not,” Adam said. “You forget I walked your dreams with you. I know the real Ronan.”   
“Well then you figure out why I’m mad,” Ronan said and waved him off.   
“Christ Ronan,”   
Ronan rested his head back against the wall behind him and looked up at the high ceiling. He hoped he looked checked out and not like he was about to throw a fit. He wanted to shake Adam and tell him to stay away from Kavinsky, but he didn’t have a reason, besides the fact that he’s a drugged out creep. Adam knew that already, but something about Adam and Kavinsky in the same room made Ronan uncomfortable. It wasn’t the dream.   
Part of it was the dream.   
Most of it wasn’t the dream, he just felt like he needed to be between Adam and Kavinsky and he didn’t know why. He didn’t feel that way with the others, but with Adam, the second Kavinsky looked his way Ronan wanted to knock him out.   
“So what’s the answer?” Adam asked  
“I just don’t like him around you,” Ronan said slowly.   
“Why?”   
“Bad feeling,” Ronan said.   
“A bad feeling? C’mon,” Adam frowned.  
“Blue’s mother is a psychic and you want to dismiss my bad feeling?” Ronan asked. “I don’t want him around you.”  
“The group?” Adam asked “Or me.”  
“You.”   
“Because of a bad feeling?”   
“Don’t believe me,” Ronan said “I don’t care.”   
“Will you stop?” Adam sighed. “I just don’t know why.”   
“You know why,” Ronan said, but didn’t look at him. The silence hung in the room, it was heavy. Ronan knew Adam saw his lingering looks. He wanted to shake Adam, to ask him if he was stupid. Adam wasn’t stupid, he could practically hear his mind as it worked out what Ronan thought. “That’s only part of it though. The rest is just a feeling.”   
“Alright,” Adam said after a long pause. “Then I won’t.”   
“You won’t what?”   
“I won’t see him.” Adam said.   
Ronan lowered his gaze from the ceiling back to Adam, Adam watched him then smiled just a little and ducked his head back under the BMW.  
“Quit distracting me,” Adam said. “Let me work.”


	11. Chapter 11

Eleven

Ronan gripped onto the soil below his hands and centered himself after he was thrust into a dream. He looked up and squinted at his surroundings. He knew that he was asleep in the barns back home. He knew he could be caught there by Declan, but he also knew something was wrong in Cabeswater. He felt it the last few days gnawing at him, it whispered in his ear even when he was awake.   
Last night he woke from a dreamless sleep by word Magician on his lips. For the life of him, he couldn’t fall into a dream here. It was like something had blocked him, or like Cabeswater wasn’t there. That idea that Cabeswater was gone had followed Ronan the last several weeks. Noah would cut out, like he was in a movie cut from the frame, then he’d be back the next moment with wide eyes. Ronan would try to dream and couldn’t get to Cabeswater. Adam would rock on his feet and get dizzy the moment Ronan felt Cabeswater peter out. Why? Ronan didn’t know. Tonight he would find out if it killed him.   
Tonight Cabeswater was easy to reach out too as he drifted to sleep. As he stood the forest surrounded him. It felt like he was home. He raised his arms and tipped his head back.   
He was home. He was home. He was home.   
The mix of his body back at the Barns and his mind in Cabeswater thrilled him. For the first time he knew exactly who Ronan Lynch was. He saw the him before his father's death, long haired and happy, he saw the him now, full of edges that would cut, and he saw the him he would be, a mix of the two. It was as if he could see his whole life. Every thing he’d do, everyone he’d love, everyone who would love him.   
His parents weren’t there.   
Ronan was used to that sting. He felt the dream fray around him. The edges blurred and the leafs over head shook.   
“Cabeswater?” he asked   
“Magician” it answered.  
“I don’t understand,” Ronan begged. “Who is the magician?”   
The wind whipped through the trees, Ronan had to crouch to stay out of the branches.   
“Thief” Cabeswater said.  
“Who?” Was Ronan the thief? He didn’t take anything this time, “I want to fix you, not steal from you.”  
“Thief. Thief. Thief.”   
Ronan put his hands over his ears as the voices got louder. There were some in Latin, some in a language he didn’t know and some in English.   
“Wake up. Wake up.” Ronan begged himself.


	12. Chapter 12

Twelve 

‘Are you coming to the 4th?’  
‘Don’t fuck with me lynch’   
‘I better see you on the 4th’   
‘Its gonna be wild man’ 

Ronan tossed his phone across his room, he didn’t want to text anyone, especially Kavinsky. He wanted to dream. He wanted his mother to wake up. He wanted his father back. He wanted his God damned car back. He also wanted to kiss Adam Parrish, but he’d settle for his fucking car. The Pig always smelled like gasoline, always broke down and while Ronan liked the look of Adam leaned over Classic American Muscle when it broke down on the highway, Ronan wanted his reliable BMW.  
“Ronan,” Gansey said outside Ronan’s shut door then opened the door and leaned in. “Hey. Closed door, I knocked,”  
“My name isn’t a knock,” Ronan said but smirked.   
“You good?”  
“Yeah man,” Ronan nodded. “I’m good.”   
“You hardly said anything all day,”   
“That’s new for you?”  
“Is it Blue?”   
“No,” Ronan smiled. “It’s not the maggot.”   
“Then what?”   
It’s that you’re going to die and I can’t figure out how to stop it. It’s that there’s something wrong with Cabeswater and I can’t figure it out.   
“Nothing,” Ronan said. He hated that Gansey could see right through him. He hated that he could remember the Ronan before and felt like the Ronan now was a consolation prize.   
“Are you going to Kavinsky’s party?” Gansey asked   
“Fuck no,”   
“Okay,” he said. “Just making sure you weren’t feeling guilty because you were going to go and not tell me.”   
“There’s nothing going on with me and K, Gansey.”   
“Not anymore you mean,”   
“Not ever,” Ronan protested.   
“You slept with him,”  
“Does that make you jealous?” Ronan smiled with venom.   
“It makes me question your taste,” Gansey said. When Ronan just blinked at him he sighed. “Look Ronan,”  
“Don’t look Ronan me,” Ronan frowned.  
“Hear me out,” Gansey said and sat on the bed near Ronan’s feet. “Yes.”   
“Yes what?” Ronan nearly laughed out.   
“I was jealous,”   
“Of Kavinsky?” Ronan asked.   
“He has parts of you I don’t know,” Gansey said. “That I don’t understand.”   
“You don’t want those parts,” Ronan said. “It involves my dick.”   
“You know what I mean,” Gansey said. “It’s the same way as you’ll never have the parts I have with Henry and Blue.”   
“It’s you Henry and Blue now?”   
“Does that bother you?” Gansey asked.  
“No,”   
“Do you get what I mean though?”   
“Yeah,” Ronan said. “I get it.”   
“One day,” Gansey said “I want you to look at yourself and see what I see.”   
“A screw up?”   
“The best friend I’ve ever had,” Gansey said. “The best person I’ve ever known. Don’t roll your eyes at me. I love you. Your my brother.”   
Ronan watch him closely, he tried to detect a lie, but he couldn’t. Ronan nodded slowly. “Brothers,”   
“Sometimes brothers you pick are better than those that are picked for you.”


	13. Chapter 13

Thirteen

Ronan shouldered the bathroom door of Nino’s open and walked inside. Adam was at Boyds, Blue was there working, Henry was at some sort of ‘Like yourself even if your Asian’ meeting. So, Ronan wasn’t really sure if that was what the meeting was about, but it made Henry laugh when he said it that morning. Henry’s laugh was a strange thing, he gave it away so freely, but those he didn’t mean. Those loud laughs when his head tipped back, those were Henry’s showy laughs. The real laugh, was a quiet one. He hunched at the waist, hand on his chest and hardly made a sound except for small gasps of air. Ronan liked when he pulled those laughs from Henry. Pulling swear words from Henry was good too.   
He just finished his piss when two hands snaked around his waist. Ronan jerked his elbow up to catch the pervert in the throat, but his pervert knew his moves.   
“Easy now, Lynch,” Kavinsky smiled against his neck.   
“Get off me,” Ronan warned.   
“Are you coming to the fourth?” he asked. “I’ve been pleasant Lynch, I want you to come.” He said and dragged his lips up his neck. “I can get you to come.”   
“Stop,” Ronan said.   
He gasped when Kavinsky’s hand sunk into his still open fly and Ronan felt his smirk against his neck. “You don’t want me to stop.”   
“Fuck you,”   
“Now, now Lynch,” Kavinsky smiled as he started to move his hand. “We both know who will be doing the fucking.”   
Ronan had a flash of Kavinsky with Adam bent over in front of him, Ronan was stuck between wanting to punch Kavinsky out and asking how it was with Adam.   
“Oh,”   
Ronan pushed Kavinsky away from him quickly and zipped himself up.   
“Mechanic!” Kavinsky said with his arms up. “Now it’s a party!”   
“I didn’t know someone was in here,” Adam said, his voice cool, his eyes slitted. He cast a glance at Ronan. Ronan got half a step towards him before Adam retreated out of the bathroom.  
“No don’t go!” Kavinsky said. “Sad. We could all have fun. C’mere,”   
Ronan pushed him away. “Get off of me. I’m not going to tell you again.”   
“You never mean that,”   
“I mean it now K,” Ronan spat. “Fuck off. Touch me again and I’ll break your fucking hands, you got me?”   
“Don’t mess with me,”   
“Who’s messing?” Ronan asked and crossed his arms.   
“I’m warning you Lynch,” he said. “You’re either under me or I can stop this little game you have going.”  
“What game?”   
Kavinsky leaned in close and crooked a finger at him. “I know what you are,”   
Ronan didn’t move, but he did clench his hands. “And what am I?” he asked.   
“Something that would make me a lotta money if I was so petty,”   
“Try it,” Ronan grinned, the grin was not made of humor.   
“A lotta people would be after my Mechanic too,” he said. “You sure you want to bring that on your doorstep?”   
Ronan thought of the long hours at Cabeswater, thought of Adam bent over cards, bent over a bowl of water with unfocused eyes, thought of the dreams Adam walked through with him. Ronan dragged him by his collar and pulled him in  
“Now I got your attention!” Kavinsky smiled.   
“I will end you,” Ronan said.   
“You’re welcome to try,” he said and pushed Ronan off of him. “Get your ass to the fourth.” He said as he walked out of the bathroom.


	14. Chapter 14

Fourteen

“Parrish,”   
“Fuck off Ronan,” Adam called over his shoulder as he made his way to his three colored car.   
“Will you fucking wait a second,” Ronan caught up with him and grabbed his arm.   
Adam threw his arm out of Ronan’s grasp and with his other hand pushed him hard away from him. “Don’t touch me,”   
“What the hell is your problem?” Adam asked and rubbed his chest.   
“MY problem?” Adam asked. “You’re the one letting Kavinsky fuck you in the bathroom.”  
“We weren’t fucking,”   
“Close enough,”   
“Are you jealous?” Ronan asked.   
“No, I’m pissed,” Adam said and opened his door.   
Ronan quickly moved between Adam and the inside of the car and put his hands up to stop Adam. “Stop it,”   
“Get out of my way,”   
“Make me,” Ronan smiled.  
“You’re such an asshole,” Adam snapped. He turned away from Ronan but then thought better of it and came back, he pushed Ronan in the chest and bounced his back off the car behind him. “You told me to stay away from him! Then I find him with his hand down your pants? Fuck you” he said and pushed him again.   
Ronan let him yell, let him push, if it was anyone else Ronan would have fought back, but it was Adam.   
“Do you have anything to say?” Adam snapped and pushed him again.   
“No,”   
“Then why?” Adam asked “Tell me why!”   
Ronan sighed and ran his hand over his head. “Have you ever had someone who you couldn’t say no too?” he asked. “Someone that, I don’t know man, I hate him, but I can’t just- I can’t say no to him.”   
Adam frowned his arms crossed. Adam looked like he was a million miles away, it wasn’t the same as when he scryed. It was like he was just not there. A body without a mind. Ronan’s mind went to the bruises, he slowly reached out to the faded bruise on his jaw. Adam jumped, but didn’t move from Ronan’s fingers. He saw Adam’s eyes fall to his own bruise on his jaw and Ronan wondered what this meant. Wondered why his bruises mirrored Adams. He remembered the night in Monmouth when his ribs were broken by nothing and he gently reached out to Adam’s side.   
“Who broke your ribs?” he asked.   
“What are you talking about?” Adam asked.   
“You bled when Whelk hit me,” Ronan said softly. “I had a black eye for no reason. When my ribs were broken I was with Gansey and Henry. No one touched me. Then you were gone from Boyds. I don’t know what it means, but I think that maybe-”  
“I don’t know,” Adam said as if he thought the same. “I don’t know what it means.”   
“Who hurt you?” Ronan asked “I can make them stop.”  
“No,” Adam grabbed him by his shirt, but it wasn’t angry like the pushes. “No Ronan, you can’t.”   
“I can stop them, Adam,”  
“I know you can,” Adam said. “But please, just don’t, okay?”   
“Will you ever tell me?”   
“No,” Adam said.   
“You stay away from who ever hits you and I’ll stay away from Kavinsky,” Ronan said softly.   
“I can’t,”   
“The fuck you can’t,” Ronan frowned. He watched Adam closely, the way Adam refused to look into his eyes, the crease between his eyebrows, the guilty tilt to his lips. “Someone at home?”  
Adam looked up at him quickly then looked away and crossed his arms again.   
“There’s a room at Monmouth,”   
“No,” Adam said quickly.   
“There’s a thousand people that live with Sargent, live with her.”   
“No,”  
“Parrish don’t fuck with me,”   
“I can’t,” Adam said quickly. “If I run away-”  
“You’ll what? Live without being hit?” He snapped. Ronan couldn’t think of life where a parent hurt him. His parents never raised a hand to him, even when they should. He didn’t know how Adam could live with that. Why Adam would go home every night just to be hit again.   
“You don’t understand,” Adam said softly.  
“You’re right,” Ronan frowned. “I don’t.”   
Adam sighed and nearly collapsed into himself. Ronan reached out slowly and caught the back of Adam’s neck. He pulled him in slowly and let Adam rest against him, chin on his shoulder. Ronan leaned back against the car and rubbed Adam’s back slowly. He was surprised that Adam let him, it took a moment for Adam to relax, but when he did his body leaned against Ronan like he fed off it.   
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I’m so fucking sorry Parrish.”


	15. Chapter 15

Fifteen

Adam was a no show at Boyd’s. Again. Ronan paced back and forth in front of his BMW until Adam was officially an hour late, then he jogged back to Monmouth for his phone. He didn’t bring it, he hated it. All he could think about is the parking lot of Nino’s two days before. Adam for the first time was vulnerable in front of Ronan, he held onto Ronan like he hadn’t held in his life. Adam wouldn’t talk about it, he wouldn’t tell him who hurt him, Ronan just knew someone did.   
He jogged up the steps to the second floor of Monmouth and threw the door open.   
“What’s happening?” Henry asked from his loud entrance and his glower.   
“Has Adam called?”   
“No,” Henry said.   
“Where’s Gansey?”   
“He’s having lunch with his mother,” Henry frowned. “Has something happened with Adam?”  
“I don’t know,” Ronan shot over his shoulder as he went into his room for his cell phone. He paused and ran his hands over his torso, over his face. He didn’t feel any knew wounds, he didn’t have any bruises. Maybe his plan was flawed. Maybe he didn’t have the same bruises as Adam, and this had just been a coincidence.   
He still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Adam just didn’t not show up for work. He called if he was late for anything.   
“Blue hasn’t seen him,” Henry said from Ronan’s doorway. “She thought he was with you at work.”  
“Well he’s fucking not,” Ronan snapped and shoved his phone in his pocket before he brushed past Henry.   
“Where are you going?”  
“To his place,” Ronan said.   
“Is that smart?”  
“Do I look like a fucking care Cheng?” Ronan asked as he turned to him quickly. “No one puts hands on things that are mine!”  
“Yours?” Henry asked.  
Ronan rolled his eyes so hard he was sure they rolled all the way around in his head.   
“I didn’t think you even liked him,” Henry said.   
“You don’t think I like anyone,”  
“Do you?” Henry asked. “Besides Gasney and Matthew I mean?”   
“Are you stupid?” Ronan asked.   
“Tell me I’m wrong Lynch,” Henry said and crossed his arms.   
Ronan moved back towards Henry, too close for Henry’s comfort. “Do you remember when those assholes were making fun of you at school? What did they call you again? Gaysian Asian? How they spray painted fag on your locker?”   
Henry crossed his arms and looked away.   
“Do you remember when a customer got handsy with Blue? When Proco tried to put his hands on Gansey?”  
“So?” Henry asked, his lower lip jutted out.  
“Who the fuck do you think took care of that?”   
Henry looked up at Ronan, his eyes wide.   
“Do you know why I took care of it?” Ronan asked.  
“Because you sleep with boys too?” Henry asked slowly.  
“No you fucking idiot,” Ronan said. “Because I protect what’s mine. Now I’m going to get Adam and bring him back here.” He turned and started for the door again.   
“Ronan?”  
“For the love of the fucking saints, what Cheng?” Ronan asked   
Henry watched him for a moment, then smiled. “You like me,”   
“No, I hate you,” Ronan said. “But your family.”   
“Ronan,” Henry said as he turned again.   
“Jesus cock eating christ Cheng!”   
Henry tossed Ronan his car keys. “Bring her back in one piece and try not to get blood on it. I just had it detailed. I’ll go get Blue, you bring Adam back here.”   
“You’re letting me drive your car?”   
“Well I’m not going,” Henry said. “I don’t like to bleed. I’m a much better nurse than I am a soldier. Go get Adam.”   
Ronan shook his head and opened the door.  
“Bye! I love you!” Henry called   
“You’re fucking pushing it Cheng,” Ronan said before he shut the door.


	16. Chapter 16

Ronan turned onto Adam’s dirt road when the first blow hit him. First, there was a pain in the back of his head, fingers digging into his skull then his face hurt so bad his vision went fuzzy. His nose and mouth were bleeding instantly. Ronan had to check the steering wheel to make sure he didn’t bounce his face off it. Next his shoulder ached like he had fell on it with all his weight, then the air was knocked from him. He had to pull over on the outskirts of Adam’s lawn to gasp for breath. He looked up when he heard yelling.  
The lights of his car illuminated Adam’s front porch and he saw Adam skitter down them, arm around his middle, hunched over to breathe. A man followed Adam, he was right on his heels. Ronan got out of the car and wiped his arm across his nose and sniffed. He started for Adam. This had to be Adam’s father, they looked too similar for it to be anyone else.   
“Don’t you walk away from me boy,” his father scolded.   
Just keep going Adam, just keep going Ronan pleaded. Adam didn’t listen. He turned back to his father at the bottom of the steps. He didn’t even try to shield himself from the hard blow across his face. Ronan almost lost his balance, Adam, who was on uneven ground did. The momentum of the hit knocked him off his feet and his head clanged against the metal handrail on his way down. The sound of the hit echoed in Ronan’s ears before he felt it.   
He grabbed at his head as white hot pain surged through him and he had to crouch down and put a hand on the ground so as not to fall over. He shook his head once then twice and blinked up at Adam.   
Get up Parrish. Get up!   
Adam didn’t get up, he rolled onto his side slowly then fell onto his back. Ronan pulled himself up on his feet and shook his head again, he was faster than Adam at recovering from the blow. Tonight, Adam’s father was going to wish he never laid hands on Adam.   
“Get up,” Adam’s father snapped. “I didn’t hit you that hard quit making a scene.”   
“Hey,” Ronan snapped.  
“What the hell do you want?”   
“To do this,” Ronan snapped and threw a punch at Adam’s father.


End file.
